U.S. Patent 10778427 was awarded to Alibaba Group Holding Limited on September 15, 2020 and is entitled “Method and apparatus for encrypting and decrypting product information.” The first named inventor is Husen Wang of Hangzhou, . The abstract contains an overview of the patent disclosure:

The present specification discloses a blockchain-based method and apparatus for encrypting and decrypting product information. A producer may encrypt production information based on a unique secret code of a product. When a distributor is present, the distributor may unidirectionally generate a distribution key according to the unique secret code, and the distributor may further generate a distribution information encryption key according to the distribution key, encrypt distribution information, and generate a next distribution key according to the distribution information encryption key. That is, the product information is encrypted by unidirectionally generating keys successively along the chain. The production information is encrypted and stored based on characteristics that the unique secret code of the product is accessible only to the producer and a buyer and the blockchain is tamper-proof and forgery-proof, so that the production information is highly confidential. Link to Full Patent

This blockchain patent was originally filed on January 24, 2020  as U.S. Patent Application 16/752460 at the United Stated Patent and Trademark Office. The application was them awarded a patent grant and published as U.S. Patent 10778427. The primary examiner was Longbit Chai.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited, who is the original assignee of this patent, has at least 1834 total granted patents in the United States as of the date of this article. This blockchain patent has been cited 0 times by other U.S. patents according to our law firm research, and can be considered an innovative patent in the field of cryptocurrency and blockchain.

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